I have an old laptop [c.2007 Sony Vaio 1gb(supports 2gb) 1.83ghz duo core 17" 160gb] currently running xp.
I have never rebuilt from scratch and now it's running like a dog - I also suspect the HDD may be on its way out.

4 Answers
4

Windows 7, when running with the features as Windows XP, has the same requirements and performance.

You can turn off:

Application Experience

Certificate Propagation

Desktop window Manager Session Manager

Diagnostic Policy Service

Function Discovery Host Provider

IP Helper

Network List Service

Netowrk Store Interface Service

Offline Files

Power

Program Compatibility Assistant Service

Superfetch

Windows Backup

Windows Connect Now - Config Registrar

Windows Font Cache Service

Windows Search

Windows Update

Although nearly all of these services have almost impact on system performance.

Some might have value that you'd miss. (e.g. PCA)

Some speed up the system compared to Windows XP (e.g. Font Cache, SuperFetch).

Some are noticeable in that you'll hear the hard-drive going (e.g. Windows Search), but highly tuned to use Windows Vista's new "background priority I/O" - so that any "real" activity always take priority over background I/O.

Beyond that, turning off Windows Desktop Composition and ClearType can help with the graphics card not being very 3D capable.

Totally worth the effort. I have an old Dell Inspiron 6000 (purchased in 2005) with 1.5gb of Ram, a 100gb hard drive, and a 1.4Ghz processor running Windows 7 Professional. It's a basic machine but its perfect for a lot of the administrative tasks I do from home connecting back to the office, etc. I'm impressed with how nicely it runs and how smooth stepping up to 7 was. Go for it!

Good to hear that. It has a sticker saying Vista compatible on the front, so I'm assuming that it would be even better with W7. How quick does it run and also how smooth was the install e.g. put CD in drive, click a few buttons then everything worked ok? or were there many driver issues/other problems?
–
adolf garlicOct 1 '10 at 12:51

It does well remotely connecting to work, browsing the web, Office 2010 runs well on it too. I'd say it's in the 7 out of 10 range performance-wise. I did an upgrade from Vista Business which took about 3 hours to complete but everything, and I mean everything, worked after the upgrade. Zero issues. No issues with drivers or anything else. I was prepared to have to wipe it clean and do a fresh install if it failed but no bumps at all. You're going to have to do a clean install so you'll finish super fast and be back up and running. Fresh installs are very quick.
–
MitchOct 1 '10 at 13:02